Are you wondering if you’ll sleep better after pushups? You should know the many benefits associated with doing pushups before bed.
Pushups can be as light or heavy as you want. So, it is an ideal type of exercise you can perform before bed to enhance better sleep. The best part is that pushups come in different versions for anyone to do easily.
While we explain in detail the advantages of working out or doing pushups before you hit the sack, here are some more questions covered in this article:
- How many pushups Do You Need Before Sleep?
- What Kind Of Pushups To Do Before Bed?
- Should You Perform High-Intensity Workouts Before Sleep?
Pushups Before Bedtime
People thought that working out late in the evening or before bed had adverse effects on sleep. That’s because intense workouts usually energize the body and make you active.
Research on sleep medicine states that moderate-intensity exercises improve sleep. However, things aren’t as plain and simple for all cases. Every individual has a unique bodily requirement and a different sleeping pattern.
That is the crucial aspect of determining whether pushups or a workout before bedtime is beneficial. Timing!
If we’re talking about a general workout, you’ll need to keep a gap of at least two hours between exercise and sleeping. As for pushups, as long as you can keep the intensity low and moderate, doing it right before sleep might do wonders for you.
What Are The Benefits Of Doing Pushups Before Sleep?
This one’s simple: working out will tire you, and you’ll sleep easier and better. Pushup, unlike other exercises, is customizable. You can intensify the session and sweat out real good 2-3 hours before bedtime, or go slow and easy right before sleep.
Pushups will improve your overall health and breathing, which in turn will help with better sleep.
Additionally, you might only have bedtime to self-care and take a breather from the exhausting and stressful work life. Dedicate some minutes to low-intensity workouts like pushups to rejuvenate.
You can start doing pushups before bed to distress and lower your anxiety levels. It helps in relaxing and calming us down mentally and physically.
Doing pushups before sleep can straighten your sleeping pattern. With a few minutes of working out before bed, you signal your body to wind down and help it get ready for rest.
Doing medium to high-intensity exercise for half an hour three hours prior to bed remarkably improves sleep duration and quality. Other benefits include mood improvement, fewer junk food cravings, and better Focus.
How Many Pushups Do You Need Before Sleep?
Now that you are aware of all the reasons how pushups before sleep can benefit your various health aspects, let’s dive into the next question.
How many times should you do the pushups to enjoy a moderate intensity workout before you sleep? Try beginning with four to five sets of ten regular pushups on alternate nights.
Add two to three sets of fifteen incline pushups for a more intense workout session.
Make sure not to overwork your body before sleeping, as it might only cause reverse effects. We’ll discuss the effects of high-intensity workouts later in the article.
The amount of pushups you need also depends on your fitness level. If you’re just starting out and not sure how to go about the workout, starting with five sets of five pushups will do, too. And if you’re athletic, increase the number of pushups and sets per requirement.
You’ll know whether the exercise is easy, moderate, or too intense if you pay heed to your body. Make any necessary adjustments to enjoy the process and see results.
What Kind Of Pushups To Do Before Bed?
Even if you’re not in your best shape, doing pushups won’t be a problem. That’s because there are various ways you can do it.
Pushups activate many muscles in the body. So you shouldn’t be surprised that many people cannot do them immediately. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
In case you can’t do many pushups in a row or at all, you can try some easier versions of the exercise. Your body will thank you for it!
Wall pushups
Wall pushups are easier and less demanding than normal pushups. They are great for those who are physically weak and heavy.
All you have to do is place the palm of your hands on the wall, stand in a vertical pushup position, and do the pushups.
It will help your arms get used to the exercise and allow you to learn the form without being too hard on the rest of the body.
Knee Pushups
If wall pushups sound too effortless, knee pushups might do the trick. Most people find them easy to do, and they are a great start to your pushup journey if you find full pushups hard.
You do this by keeping your knees touching the floor and balancing the body while your arms move, taking it up and down.
Using a yoga mat is recommended for this workout, as pressing your knees on the bare floor can get painful.
Knee pushups will make your arms, wrists, and core ready for full pushups.
Incline Pushups
After mastering wall and knee pushups, you might want to look for something more challenging.
Incline pushups let you use your bed as a tool. Stand beside the bed, place your hands on the edge, your feet on the floor, and do your pushups.
They are a bit harder than the other two forms discussed above. However, you’ll finally be able to start fighting gravity like a regular pushup.
Negative Pushups
The main issue beginners face with regular pushups is continuously pulling their body up and down with only the arms’ support. Negative pushups only let you do only the first half of the workout.
You get into the regular pushup position, slowly drop down your body, and once it hits the floor, use both your arms and knees to get back up.
Negative pushups will let you get used to gravity, and you can switch to full pushups once your arms become strong enough to carry the body up and down.
Decline Pushups
Although harder than the other pushup forms, decline pushups target your upper chest, arms and shoulders even more.
You can level up your bedtime workout routine by transitioning from regular pushups to decline pushups.
The bed acts as equipment in this exercise, too. But this time, you’re placing your feet on the bed and your arms on the floor.
Since this is a more advanced form of pushup, we suggest not going straight for it until you can do full pushups easily. Unless done correctly, it can be too hard for your body and even cause injuries.
Should You Perform High-Intensity Workouts Before Sleep?
Doing strenuous workouts lets the body produce some hormones in large amounts. They can neutralize your sleep hormones, aka melatonin, which can interfere with your sleep.
The logic is that you’ll be too energetic to sleep if you perform high-intensity and vigorous workouts less than two hours before bedtime.
The workout will make you exhausted and tired at first, but there’s a good chance you’d feel very active after some time.
Moderate and low-intensity workouts like stretching and pushups do not affect the hormones much. Therefore, you can do them close to bedtime.
So, the ideal answer to whether you can do intense exercise before sleep is no.
Nevertheless, if you need to work out hard at night, doing it at least an hour before sleep is crucial. Resting for an hour allows your vitals to become normal again.
How Can You Determine The Best Workout Intensity For Nighttime?
A moderate workout consisting of stretching, warm-ups, and push-ups are ideal if you plan to incorporate a physical activity before sleep.
But if you’re more into high-intensity exercises, don’t do it past 7 pm, although the timing depends on when you actually sleep.
Listen to what your body tells you when you work out. If your routine is causing too much stress on your muscles, you might want to ease off a bit. The intensity should be about 70%. More than that isn’t ideal for bedtime workouts.
Conclusion
As long as you’re keeping it moderate and easy, pushups before bed have great benefits.
So, yes, you might be able to sleep better after pushups.
Remember to be careful while working your body out. Self-care is essential but don’t overwork, as it will negatively impact your sleep quality instead of promoting it.
Do pushups moderately, get tired, and you’ll doze off in no time! Work out hard, and you might stay up for longer.
Working out makes you feel energized and excited. That’s why many people become addicted to it. However, you wouldn’t want to feel that way when it’s time for bed.
Pushups are ideal exercises for nighttime because you can control the intensity. So, go ahead and start your fitness regime!